SEMO SEEKS POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE; REGENTS MEET TODAY TO CONSIDER MATTER

Technical training isn't for dunces; rather, it should be an increasingly important part of higher education, says Don Dickerson, president of Southeast Missouri State University's Board of Regents.

The university wants to boost technology training in the region by setting up a polytechnic institute.

The regents will be asked to do just that when they meet today. The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom.

"For too long the concept of technical education has been that it has been for kids that aren't smart enough to go to college or a university," said Dickerson. But today, many industrial jobs require technical and computer training, he said.

Southeast officials said the institute would be on the same level with the university's two existing schools of university studies and graduate studies.

The university's industrial technology department would be at the core of the new institute.

In addition, the university would set up a center for advanced manufacturing technology to serve existing industry and encourage industrial development in the region, officials said.

The schedule calls for the university to hire an administrator, adviser-recruiter, technology supervisor and secretary for the institute during the current fiscal year.

Dickerson said he doesn't expect the institute to foster a bureaucracy that would greatly expand the payroll. "We largely are taking the expertise we now possess in the industrial technology program and trying to apply it to the region's needs," he said.

As part of its plans, Southeast wants to construct a new technology center.

The industrial technology department is housed in the Serena Building, an aging structure that increasingly is inadequate for today's technological needs, school officials said.

"It is just like all older buildings," Dickerson said. "It is deteriorated."

Dickerson said a new building would provide space for customized training for industries.

"We could set up a model assembly line to train people on," he said.

The building is the top priority for the university in terms of capital improvement projects.

The university, however, failed to secure state funding for the project this year. School officials hope to convince the Legislature and the governor to fund it next year.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, said that establishing the institute might help secure state construction funding for the technology center.

Both Nitzschke and Dickerson said it is important to proceed with setting up the institute rather than wait for money to build the technology center.

They said the university needs to set up new technology programs and curriculums. It also plans to work with the community colleges and vocational-technical schools in providing the training needed by the region's employers.

"That has to be done regardless of whether we get a new building tomorrow or whether we have it next year," Dickerson said.

Technical training will be one of the goals of the Southeast Missouri Educational Consortium, a partnership of five colleges and universities including Southeast.

University officials said Southeast's new commitment to technical training is a part of the school's strategic plan that was adopted by the regents last year.

Southeast already provides some customized training. But the polytechnic institute should lead to improve services, said Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast.

"We are talking about much higher visibility, much better services being made available, and a much broader list of academic programs," Wallhausen said.